A longtime reader of this blog sent us an email – “I wanted to share one of my favorite blogs. I first found out about the author and blog through his amazing article right after Robin Williams’ suicide. I feel he writes what I feel but can’t put into words on my mental health. Best, Geraldine.” http://letsqueerthingsup.com/2015/06/22/mental-health-recovery-isnt-always-daisies-puppies-and-rainbows-and-thats-ok/ Geraldine has bipolar …
Sense of Purpose and Health
Might your sense of purpose and motivation in life decrease your visits to the hospital? – a blog post by Eric Baron Many of us share a consistent notion of what it is to be healthy. We might think of living a longer life, spending less of that time holed up at home and surrounded by tissues, in bed and …
Work to Home Transition
It has been a very busy time for me professionally, perhaps for you as well. Certainly it seems as though people in the Bay Area are moving faster and faster with less time to relax. After working with a number of tech professionals at companies which talk about the importance of a work life balance, I have come to the …
Chronic Insomnia Treatments
A recent study confirms that cognitive behavioral therapy is effective for chronic insomnia and is often more effective than medications. “What surprises us is that there isn’t more awareness of this treatment’s effectiveness and that there haven’t been more attempts to make the treatment more available to patients,” James M. Trauer of the Melbourne Sleep Disorders Centre in Australia told …
Bipolar Depression Webinar
Bipolar Depression with Dr. Peter Forster and Dr. Kelsey Schraufnagel Please join us for a Webinar on June 24th, 2015 at 9:00 am PT. For many people with bipolar, it is depression that is the source of most of their difficulties. Considerable controversy has surrounded to the question of how to treat bipolar depression. New medications offer the hope of …
Busy Time
Long time followers of this blog may have noticed a marked drop in the frequency of blog posts in the last couple of weeks. I was away on vacation and that could partly explain the reduction, but the fact of the matter is that I have never been as busy in my practice as I am right now. Everyone who …
Herd Instinct in Humans: The Source of Anxiety and Depression?
Jeffrey Kahn has written a fascinating book (Angst: Origins of Anxiety and Depression in Oxford Press) suggesting an evolutionary source for much of human psychopathology. He gave a Grand Rounds presentation at UCLA in February of 2015 that outlined some of his theories and that presentation has been the subject of a vigorous discussion online. In essence, Jeffrey argues that …
Facebook Causes Depression
How Can Facebook Usage Cause Depression? Today, social technology is commonplace. It’s practically unavoidable, and we rarely think of it as something that is risky, but, rather, as useful or fun (…and maybe a little addictive). But social researchers at University of Houston and Palo Alto University have found evidence that social technologies, like Social Networking Sites (SNS) and texting, …
Treating Mother’s Depression Helps Kids
Sometimes the very best way that mothers can help their children is by helping themselves. Fascinating study just published in the American Journal of Psychiatry by renowned psychologist Myrna Weissman adds to an extensive literature showing that maternal depression affects children in negative ways and that treating maternal depression can have profound benefits for the kids. In this article a …
Media Violence – Psychological Effects
A lot of attention has been focused on the question of whether exposure to media violence is linked to an increase in violent behavior. Less attention has been focused on the question of the other psychological effects of exposure to media violence. The recent study presented at the British Psychological Society’s 2015 annual meeting suggests that a significant number of …
Hypomania and Success
During the 1990s clinical psychologist John Gartner was planning on writing a book about religious movements started by manic profits, but he began to be distracted by the energy and excitement swirling around him as people became immersed in the Internet “bubble”. He decided instead to write a book about the relationship between hypomania and success in the business world (The Hypomanic …
Our Relationship to Pain, Matters
Chronic pain can significantly affect our lives. It can result in not being able to engage in activities we loved to do. It impacts our relationships with loved ones. The limitations brought on by pain, can lead us to question our identity and certainly our quality of life. Years ago, I worked with a gentleman (we’ll call him Marcos) who was …
Western Medicine and Mental Health – Lyndsey
True Story: A shaman visited a mental hospital and was appalled by the way patients were treated. It’s not that the conditions were shabby or the medical advice outdated. To the contrary, the hospital was renowned and the staff more than competent. What shocked the shaman was not the facilities but the viewpoint. In his culture, mental illness is no …
Mental Health Problems and Physical Health
An incredibly well researched article in the journal JAMA Psychiatry summarized a body of research on the impact of mental health conditions on overall mortality in the world population and concluded that roughly 10% of all mortality was related to mental health problems. As I’ve recently been wrestling with problems helping people get access to treatment I thought it might …
Mentalize
Sometimes a word just seems to show up everywhere. This past week the word “mentalize” has come up in conversation a number of times. A colleague who is looking for a referral for therapy says that she needs someone who can “mentalize well.” One of my patients who just completed a DBT-based treatment program says that she is doing better because …
Romance and Depression
Jack is a delightful older gentleman who loves sailing and beautiful women, but who has also been wrestling with depression for a year or more. We recently had a fascinating conversation about how romance and depression relate to each other in his life. He has a loving girlfriend who’s been very supportive to him during the past year, during which …
World Bipolar Day
Today, March 30, is World Bipolar Day. World Bipolar Day is a collaborative initiative of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, the International Bipolar Foundation, and the Asian Network of Bipolar Disorders. I took advantage of the opportunity to do some web surfing and found an incredibly rich array of Twitter sites devoted to this topic. Bipolar World. Bipolar Blogs. Julie …
Insomnia Treatment Reduces Brain Stress
Insomnia treatment may have long-term beneficial effects on the health of your brain. Study in the Journal Biological Psychiatry published in February, 2015 looked at 123 older adults with chronic insomnia who were randomized to one of two active treatments (twice-weekly cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi) for 4 months or a relaxation therapy) or a control group who received educational …
Attentional Bias Modification Prevents Depression
A middle-aged nurse wrestling with depression said she want to do “everything” that she possibly could to improve her mood. She doesn’t have access to therapy through her insurance, and she’s already vigorously pursuing mindfulness practice, but her request reminded me of an article I recently read on Attentional Bias Modification as both a possible treatment of depression and as …
Faith and Depression
Depression wears down our sense of trust and faith. Biologically, depression involves activating parts of the brain that search for problems. What is faith? It is an experience more than a specific belief. You can try an experiment by completing this sentence a few times (in your mind or out loud): “I have faith in _________.” Then complete another sentence …